Reliable, Warranted Technology

Solar photovoltaics (PV) are one of the most reliable renewable energy systems on the market, which is one of the reasons most solar components come with long warranties. The equipment used in Greenzu solar micro-utilities generally follows these warranty patterns:

Most manufacturers will provide at least a 25-year warranty on their solar panels. Long-term tests of polycrystalline panels have shown that these devices can actually last longer than their warranties. Crystalline panels are also incredibly reliable – at Year 20, these panels will produce 80% of the energy they produced at Year 1. That’s a mere 1% degradation per year for the life of the panels. Nevertheless, we build this degradation into your revenue projections.

Typically, inverters come with five or ten year warranties, though many can be purchased with extended warranties as well. While inverters tend to last 10 to 15 years, they will most likely need replacement before the solar panels. That cost is built into your return projections

Racking

Like inverters, the racking or mounting system for a solar system usually comes with a 10-year warranty. With basic check-ups each year, however, it should never fail. The cost of these check-ups is built into your revenue projections.

Balance of System

All remaining components, including things like wiring and combiner boxes, typically come with 10-year warranties.

Installation Workmanship

In California, rebates are only available for those micro-utility installations that carry strong 10-year warranties and guarantees for workmanship and 5-year warranties for roof leaks. Problems caused during the installation will likely manifest within 5 years, triggering the installer warrantee.

Of course, a warranty is only as good as the manufacturer that provides the equipment, which is why we also select only manufacturers with long histories and stability to ensure they will be around long after the PPA term expires to service their warranties.

Annual Cleaning and Check-Up:

Once or twice a year, you need an installer to come inspect your array tighten of a few bolts, and wash off the solar panels.

Monitoring:

Most commercial solar systems are equipped with remote monitoring systems that provide reports on the electricity production and energy used by the client.

Inverter Replacement:

Owners can optionally set up a reserve fund from cash flows to budget for inverter replacement after the 10-year warranty has expired.

Emergency System Maintenance:

Although very rare, if a solar system experiences a problem due to equipment malfunction or external weather conditions, the monitoring system will notify the solar manager of the problem who then dispatches a repair crew to take care of the problem.

Solar Property Insurance:

Micro-utility owners can rely on insurance to cover major disasters. The two primary policies involved are:

Separate Property Insurance:

Micro-utilities can carry separate property insurance with a specific wind damage protection rider, to protect against things like a hail storm.

Host Insurance:

Greenzu requires that host customers carry their own property, general liability, and workmanship compensation insurance.

When projecting solar micro-utility ROI, Greenzu includes the cost of property insurance with wind coverage in our O&M budget.

Peace of Mind with a Greenzu PPA Investment:

We will gladly provide any additional information you may require regarding the measures we take to protect your investment. We invite you to have all of your questions answered by signing up to receive additional information about a Greenzu PPA.